Mischeif in the heavens
by Harumiko
Summary: When the soul is angry and vengeful, it will do anything to avenge its pain, and soon, may lack remorse for the pain it inflicts. Can the gang put to rest the source of Earth's suffering for many years and put to rest a twisted soul for good? (Rewritten).


Diclaimer: The characters in this fic (which the exception of the racoons, generic gaurds, Shino, (who belong to Shortypie) and other charachters to come from Teen Titans (their copyrights will be proclaimed too), the characters belong to Sonic the hedgehog which means the following:

Sonic, Mina, Tails, Sally, Max, Alicia, Amy, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Ash, The Knothole Knuts members, Isabella Mongoose (Mina's mom) and any other characters officially in the Sonic continuity.

Note: Please excuse how this fic looks, I tried editing it several times but really doesn't want me to o.o

Mischeif in the heavens

Water gently flowed around a young, yellow furred mongoose that lied against the side of a tile bathtub. Warm vapors combined with the sweet smells of shampoo and soaps would be what would fill her nostrils. The girl was at this point conveniently comforted physically by warmth of the clear water that reflected the grayish white sky that peirced the windows. This sensation this water provided slowly started soothing her to the point she was losing consciousness. Her wavy, mauve hair managed to move with the slow current while her the last of the shampoo in her hair rubbed off into the water as she sank further into the tub. Slosh.... slosh... was the sound that worked in tune with the rhythm of the water, other than that there was silence; The mongoose could hear nothing more in the hut she lived in.

"Aaaah just what I needed.... some time to relax..." She sighed

Admittedly, the young girl was right. Her life was one many desired, but it was still one that could become rather stressful. She was a teen pop star who sang for troops and for any requested celebrations from the Acorn royal family. That was a big enough job if she didn't add her occasional babysitting work and her attempt to be a fairly good student at school. But right now she wasn't going to hang out with her band, or the manager that eventually became her boyfriend, no school, no singing...today she was simply going to...

"Mina!" A voice suddenly called out to her that ruined the calmed atmosphere her train of thought. Instantly the girl's eyelids snapped open, and her green eyes darted from side to side.

"Miiina are you ready? Your friends are here to take you go with you to the palace!" the voice called out again.

"Today...I'm 'simply' going to the palace..." She reminded herself as she jumped out of the tub, her mauve hair wrapping around her body like beautiful ribbons sticking to a dress. However the mongoose paid no mind to the long wavy hair that covered her body, she went straight into her bedroom where she would find an outfit neatly placed on her bed. After slipping on her under garments, Mina put on her shirt. It was the short sleeved type that was around two to three fingers wide, its length starting from her chest to her ribcage. On it, black would be everywhere save the center, which began at the center of her breast area and stopped at the other. This section of the shirt was to a grayish purple that complemented her hair.

"Okay...okay... gotta be quick...." Mina thought aloud as she grabbed her a pair of pants that managed to complement her outfit. They were the same grayish purple color everywhere save a black strip that went on each outer part of the leg. To keep the outfit in place Mina grabbed a tail belt and wrapped it firmly around this outfit. Finally, she would slip on her long, purple socks before putting on the tail boots that matched the color of her bulky warmers and belt.

"Miiina hurry up!" A voice shouted. It was instant to have her presence.  
"Okay momma!" Mina yelled grabbing her black headband and choker, placing them on while she ran out of her room.As the door slammed, an older mongoose that looked almost identical to Mina walked over to her side.  
"Your hair is still wet!" She noted while grabbing a towel to try drying her daughter's currently damp hair.

"Momma stop!" Mina protested. "I gotta go."  
Her mother relented, once she assumed her daughter's hair was dry enough.

"Okay, okay, you have friends are outside waiting for you, the Freedom Fighters to be more exact but I'll keep in contact with your band if they come to see you. In the meantime you need to go see your other friends outside. I stalled so they wouldn't leave," her mother said as she walked her daughter to their home's exit.

"Thanks momma." Mina responded gratefully as she jogged outside. Beside her hut were a blue hedgehog and an orange two-tailed fox.

"Mina what's the deal?" Questioned the impatient hedehog. "You took five minutes to get out of your hut. Surely after all that training I gave you, you can move faster than that."  
Mina laughed nervously as she walked out her hut.

"Hey cut me some slack Sonic, I've had a singing career, plus my trainer had 'died' awhile back, remember?"  
Sonic looked at the fox at his side, and both of them responded to Mina with a burst of laughter.  
"Well I don't plan on doing that again." He sighed as he finished laughing. "'Cause being blasted to the ends of the universe wasn't exactly the best trip."  
The fox's happy expression was suddenly drained from his face, his head suddenly hanged low.  
"But Sonic what about my parents?"  
Sonic looked over at him and instantly remembered. His parents were currently stranded on a distant planet of the Bem, who had visted their planet Mobius years ago.

"Hey... I'm sorry Tails, we can go search for your parents someday. I'm just not in the mood to go to the ends of the universe to get there."  
Tails' face seemed to look a bit more relieved now that he understood.  
"Oh...okay!"  
Sonic feeling secure with Tails' final reaction, started turning to the direction of the Acorn castle, stopped, and pivoted his body as if ready to run.  
"Well Mina-girl you're getting rusty, its time we get you back in shape."  
" A race to the palace? But I haven't trained yet."  
"Yes you are...now!" Sonic said with a grin before running off, his blue body nothing more than a blur. Its force slashed through the grass and disturbed the land as the earth was kicked from its resting place and into the air.  
  
Mina looked over at him with adoration. Amazing wasn't he? He never gave up on her, She loved the way he managed to try brightening her days...she loved him.  
"Hey Sonic wait for us!" Tails called out to him before propelling his twin tails to fly into the air before moving to catch up.

Meanwhile Mina just continued to stand there for a moment. True, she had a boyfriend whom she met while trying to get over Sonic, a band, and a number of occupations; and while she cared deeply for the following they never could replace how important Sonic was to her heart, and he'd always come first. He was always there for her when she was scared or upset, he was always a helping hand; and though he had an attitude, for some reason she couldn't help be drawn to the character beneath it, which so happened to be a warm, caring, fun loving guy.

"Uh oh!" Mina thought to herself as she exited her thoughts. She completely forgot about the race and rapidly ran as fast as she could behind Sonic. The land ahead of her was blurry; her legs felt like they weren't going to move in the right direction, and that would cause her to crash! While she panicked Mina tried to stay focused at the same time. The blue blur thankfully knew the weaknesses of his "apprentice" and slowed down to look behind him, seeing if Tails and Mina coming as he reached the palace. As he feared, the yellow blur seemed to move in a more disoriented fashion.

"Tails fly out of the way Mina's losing control!" Sonic shouted, knowing instinctively the problem. At this point, Tails who was barely above the ground looked behind him to see Mina running rapidly in his direction, but she could hardly see because the land around her was just a blur and she was at this point panicking. She didn't know when her legs would move in the wrong direction and get her hurt. Sonic knew based on their previous races they had during training, that this was the case. The moment Tails moved out of the way Sonic zoomed over to Mina and grabbed her.Currently, everything spun around Mina.

"I'm not as in control even a years later." She groaned  
  
"You did fine for not training as much in awhile."  
Mina smiled a little at Sonic's words. "Thanks...."  
  
Sonic gave a grin that showed his teeth. "Hey, no problem Mina-girl." He retorted as he helped her move towards the palace.  
  
Meanwhile as Sonic helped a staggering Mina to the palace, Tails moved up the steps to face two brown flat tailed guards with white fur on their stomachs and in their ears.

"Can we help you?" One of them whistled through their bucked teeth.  
The orange two Tailed fox nodded at what appeared to be beavers.

"Yes, we have an appointment to see the king."  
The second one in a pink uniform to match the firsts wrinkled his nose.

"I'm sorry dear but you can't just 'say' you have an appointment with the king. Every day m'boy the king makes a list for anyone scheduled for an appointment.

"Well my name is Tails Prower, and with me is Sonic the hedgehog and Mina Mongoose." He said point to himself, and then his friends.

The guard studied the list handed to him. "Yep...well, th' hedgehog and th' mongoose are here, and there is a Prower, but not with your first name."

Tails slapped his head. "How could I forget"? He thought aloud "I'm sorry but Tails is my nickname, my real name is Miles."

The beaver slapped his arm. "There ya go, that's it, welcome to th' palace Mr. Prower."  
As the doors opened Tails helped Sonic get Mina into the building.

"I'm fine now guys, its okay." She sighed, trying to get over the rush.  
Sonic and Tails slowly let go "Sure." they said in unison.

Without their support, the mongoose slowly started to move on her own she diverted her attention to the smooth stone walls decorated with beautiful portraits, and trees embedded in the palace with other plant life to give the royal family a more natural, forest-like atmosphere. Certainly, even with the wealth acquired by her musical talents, never in her wildest dreams could Mina even think she could afford a home so luxurious and beautiful as that of the royal family's. Sonic pointed to his right as he took the lead.  
  
"The king said in his invitation he wanted us in the new royal ready room. Which should be this way." Sonic directed.

Instantly, everyone followed his lead walking through what seemed a maze until they reached the room they were looking for. Already there were a number of Mobians. For instance, a purple walrus, which would be gently holding the arm of a bionic, honey colored Rabbit.

"Bunnie please, we need to keep it calm in here. " Rotor whispered.  
  
"There ain't no way I'm goin' to be spendin' a whole meetin' next to HIM!" Bunnie growled as her robotic index finger poked a brown coyote's chest. "Just when you think he could be kind, he never ceases to amaze you any sugar!"  
The coyote's eyes narrowed, and the scar on the side of his face seemed to deepen.

"Why don't you just LEAVE zen eh? Zee king should not have to bother with zis behavior when he gets here!"  
Bunnie's green eyes angrily looked into the coyote's blue set that seemed just as furious as her own.

"I s'pose yer, right Antoine, ah can ask the king to talk t'me about the meeting at a time, without YOU here." she huffed as she made her way out of the room.

"Woah, woah, woah! What's going on?" Sonic asked.  
Bunnie spun around still in the heat of anger. "They expect me to sit next to 'em!" Bunnie shouted.  
Sonic looked puzzled. "Him?"

" 'Toine!" Bunnie explained. "Ah tried sugar hog, but he greeted me with that same cold look and sneer as always. Ah'm NOT sittin' next to him!

Sonic scratched his head in frustration. "Can't you two ever make up?"

The rabbit bit her lip before staring at the scar-faced cyotee "Its really not my desicion." She responded before making her way out of the room.

"No Bunnie, wait! Yelled a pink hedgehog that ran to the rabbit's side. Remarkably, Her quills unlike Sonic's were short and hung low while his poked outwards. The energy that could be seen in her green eyes were now being put into making Bunnie reconsidered her decision.

"Don't go Bunnie the king needs us all to be here!" She yelled again.  
Bunnie responded by slowly shaking her head "A'hm sorry Amy, but I'm not gonna sit next to 'em."

"Then you can take my seat!" Amy offered.

"Fine." Bunnie agreed before turning her head to Sonic, Tails and Mina. We'll be back with you two in a moment. Y'all go find yerselves a seat.

Obediently the three of them made their way to the large rectangular table filled with about a dozen chairs, on the table in front of each chair was a name for each individual at the meeting.  
  
"Hmm, I sit near the end." Sonic noted.  
Mina looked for her name as well "And I sit to the one next to you." She concluded.  
As the two sat in their seats, Tails sat in one across from Mina.

"Wonder who that last seat is for." Mina thought aloud.  
  
"Probably Sally so she can sit next to Sonic." Tails laughed while teasingly puckering his lips.

Instantly Sonic and Mina's stomachs twisted for two separate reasons, both having to do with bad memories. Mina remembered how heart broken she felt when she saw Sonic choose Sally to care for romantically over her, through what probably was meant to be a _secret_ kiss at that! While it did hurt to be second best, Mina managed to still behave as though it didn't faze her to make Sonic more comfortable with his relationship with Sally, even despite the fact they may not always be on good terms. Which is exactly why Sonic's stomach twisted. He wasn't with Sally anymore and the memory of her breaking up their relationship and marking the end to those kisses Tails mocked him with was making it difficult for him to keep his cool.

"Knock it off Tails." Sonic said as coolly as possible.

Tails indeed would heed Sonic's words and stop.

"Yeesh, c'mon I wasn't serious Sonic."

"Whatever." Sonic grumbled back.

Before Tails or Mina could say anything back, a guard in a green uniform walked into the room.

"We are now ready to announce the royal family." He said before the door behind him opened a bit further, nearly smacking Sonic in the face.

Coming through the door first was a squirrel, with a long bushy tail. The crown he wore was placed on his head and he wore a very classy outfit, with signs of aging as the hairs on his moustache and eyebrows were completely gray. Indeed this first of the royal family that entered was the king. Second came his wife Queen Alicia. The queen's hair was an auburn color, each strand being neatly combed back and curled at the tips. Matching quite well with her long orange dress. On the other hand it made her eyes, just as blue and elegant as her husband's, stand out like a sore thumb. As she followed the king, she tried to position a golden tiara with a magenta gem encrusted in the middle, paying no mind to the mood of the third figure behind her. The guards shut the door behind this one. Her hairs, auburn like her mothers. At the moment, she also inherited the saddened blue eyes the royal family walked into the room with. At this point, she clinged for strength the royal signet, chained into her blue vest that matched perfectly her blue boots.

"Hey Sal!" Sonic yelled over to her, offering the seat next to him.  
Sally glanced at him with her troubled eyes but continued to move, walking past him and the seat and towards the center of the other end of the table where her father sat. There, Sally and Alicia stood next to him, one on each side.

"Hey what's the deal Sal?" Sonic shouted from across the room.  
  
"Quiet Sonic!" Sally shushed. This meeting was too important for her to allow Sonic ruin its level of seriousness.  
The king however saw that the banter these two had in the past could actually do more harm Sally goal than help.

"Enough you two." The king chimed in to be sure their side discussion ended before resuming attention to everyone else.

"I suppose you're all wondering why you all were called here. So lets get to the point." He began."We are in dark times. Times in which will require the help of everyone in this room."

"Your highness?" Sonic said only to be cut off.

"In a moment Sonic! Anyway, you see... there is something wrong happening. Robotropolis is rapidly redeveloping, but rates that are astonishing. It hasn't developed to the point where most Mobians would notice, but the Secret Service has noted that within the irradiated dome, reconstruction is being done.

"But how is that possible? Someone would have to be IN the dome in order to do that!"  
The king glanced at the owner of the voice sadly.

"I know Sonic, but I do not suspect Robotnik, while he would want this sort of thing to occur, your previous missions with the BEM has indicated after the mission summary we received that in fact Robotnik is now an organic life form who couldn't possibly be living in that irradiated city to head its reconstruction. Not only that, but for anyone to start the reconstruction, they'd have to come from within the dome. Coming from the outside would require the barrier be taken down which would've marked the deaths of everyone in this room a while ago. So you all have been called to investigate and eliminate any problems that come of this.  
  
"B-but your highness! I already have a job to sing for the troops!" Mina interrupted to indicate.

"I understand." Max said back. "But that duty shall have to be suspended for this current cause. We need as many experienced people as we can offer. Regular troops don't have the potential and success rates in their work compared to you, nor the supernatural abilities. You have been a trained Freedom Fighter who HAD and still has the potential to successfully carry out missions. Mina dear, we need to call back the potential you have for this job, as it's more important than you realize. "

"My band..." Mina's voice then trailed off realizing her possible defeat.

"Mina-girl your doin' this for them." Sonic coaxed trying to calm her down.  
  
"We have on file your last mission. You indicated in your report that you did not know what to do and that nearly cost you your life."

Mina seized the opportunity to defend herself. "Exactly, Why I'm no good as freedom fighter!"

"That's not exactly true..." Max said back turning to his daughter for assistance. "Right Sally?"

"Right dad." Sally said back. "...Mina, our reports all found you were to some degree successful with handling a mission when given direction. The royal family has reason to believe that potential freedom fighters can fare better on the battlefield with some sort of direction. I myself can say this as a former coordinator. All our trained members, including those in this room were all given some form of direction when starting their missions until they were capable of being independent, and we feel you would benefit from the same treatment, that's why you were ordered here."

"As a result," Max decided "we feel it is necessary to announce someone capable of being a good director for this Team's missions to ensure success, we have decided that individual couldn't be any better than Sonic."

Sonic blinked slowly, it was his turn to be surprised.

"WHAT?!" He yelped, both alarmed and confused.

Mina smirked at his response. "Don't worry you're doin' it for them." She coaxed back, reciting his words, the joke causing him to grin momentarily before trying to put back on his serious facial expression.

"Max, While this is great and all, what about Sal?" He asked once he had collected himself.

"She is a princess, and our heir." Max answered. "Too much is at stake putting her on the battlefield as she wishes to rule. We can't have what could possibly be the kingdom's next ruler being lost to a mission!"

Mina shivered. "But you said we could ensure success."  
  
"And I'm sure you can. "Max retorted. "But this is just to stay safe. Sally will assist you behind enemy lines."  
The king then waved his hand indicating the guards open the doors. "In the meantime everyone is dismissed and will be called to the throne room tomorrow for further directions towards this mission, do not tell ANYONE about it. Now, hurry to the nearest exit as the substitute Freedom Fighters and the Secret service have all been scheduled for a meeting here any minute now."  
As the doors opened, everyone got out of their seats and headed out.  
  
"I don't know how I'm gonna tell any of them this." Mina squeaked.

Sonic turned to her. "Your band?"  
  
Mina nodded. "Yeah."

As the guards at the entrance of the palace saw the exiting Mobians, they were quick to open the doors. Waiting outside was a yellow Mongoose with jet-black hair with a pair of sunglasses framing his darkened eyes. He wore spiked black bracelets that matched his black jean pants and long t-shirt that had an intimidating red face placed in the center.

"Ash!" Mina gasped.

Ash's attention directed itself from fixing the collar of his white jacket to the yellow mongoose heading his way. Temporarily a wave of happiness filled Ash as he saw Mina. What caused it to leave was the blue hedgehog beside her. He was significant because he knew that hedgehog was someone from Mina's past. Someone who would always threaten the relationship he had with her. This understanding caused his face to slowly darken at the sight of this blue figure, and Sonic felt an unsettling atmosphere as he came into contact with Ash.  
"Uh... Mina? I think your boyfriend means business."  
Mina tried to brush off what Sonic was saying by putting on a rather cheerful smile to redirect Ash's emotions.  
"Ash how did you find me?" She asked with a cheerful smile.  
Ash wrapped his arm around Mina and brought her closer, directing "her" away from Sonic and slowly into the sea of other Freedom Fighters in his way.  
"I went to your home earlier to see you, but your mom said you had to go visit the king, so I figured I'd wait for you there."  
Mina looked up at him. "Why'd you come over though? You said you'd be working all day to find me a gig the other day."  
"I finished early." Ash explained. "Finding a place for you to sing seems to be less and less of a problem. But I told the boys to go to your hut because with the due date of this concert, we'd have to practice as soon as possible."  
"When is it?"  
"In about three days."  
Mina nearly fell after hearing those words. "I can't believe this! I just finished doing one two weeks ago!"  
"Hey Mina, don't look at me for sympathy. You're the one who wanted to get yourself into this kind of thing."  
"Actually..." Mina accidentally thought aloud.  
"Actually what?"  
Mina blushed after realizing she verbally went nostalgic. "Actually... he's the one who got me into "this kind of thing." Mina replied while gesturing her thumb in Sonic's direction.  
"HIM? So he was like, your manager before he supposedly died?"  
"Dunno, but he did put me on stage and trusted in my abilities, even before I did myself."  
As the two passed Mina's house, Ash abruptly halted while grabbing her arm.  
"You're home." He informed her.  
Mina blinked in realization. "Oh... oh yeah."  
The male mongoose responded with an affectionate roll of his eyes, before going inside his girlfriend's hut as she waved goodbye to her friends who were on their way home.  
"Well Mina-girl, did you tell him?" Sonic asked as he passed her by.  
"About what?"  
"Oh I don't know, the meeting that is only going to suspend you current CAREER!" Sonic reminded.  
Mina's body stiffened. "I was trying to forget..."  
"Yeah well, the king wants us there tomorrow, you can't put this off forever."  
The girl started shaking. "I know, but you don't understand...this career means everything to everyone in that hut."  
Sonic grabbed her wrist and tried dragging her into the hut. "Its okay, if you can't tell them I'll do it for you!"  
Mina's eyes widened with fear. "No Sonic, DON'T!" She cried but it was of no use. Sonic had made up his mind and was heading into the hut, dragging her right along with him.  
"Oh hello young hedgehog, it's been awhile since I've seen you come over." Mina's mother said while putting plates on the table for her other guests. The first was obviously Ash who glared at Sonic as his fork angrily played with his salad. Beside the Mongoose, was that had a burnt orange type of color, next to him was a red lynx with black hair that matched his red shirt. Finally in a corner of the room was a mouse that had an appearance that couldn't quite be recognized due to the lack of light.  
"What're YOU doing here?" Ash snapped glaring at Sonic's hand that was holding Mina's.  
Sonic in return ignored Ash's explosion to something as trivial as hand holding in comparison to the bigger problem at hand.  
"Mina has something she wanted to tell you all, but right now she just can't come to say it."  
Ash's face turned from a scowl to a softer, more worried face as he saw the mongoose beside Sonic as pale as his white jacket.  
"Mina, what's wrong?" the mouse in the corner asked.  
"I...I--ahm...I have to...ah..." The words weren't coming out; Mina started to tremble with fear.  
"I was gonna say it." Sonic said to her. "But I had a hunch she could do it on her own. Sonic said, briefly squeezing Mina's hand before letting go.  
Her voice tightened, almost completely ignoring Sonic's attempts at support altogether. She couldn't remember this feeling happening to her since the first time she was forced on stage by Sonic.

"I... just need to remember to believe in myself... I--I can do this." She thought to calm herself down before opening her mouth to make an attempt to speak.  
  
"King Max has suspended my job as a singer until I can accomplish a mission for him that he says is very important!" She quickly blurted out.  
The room for a while was silent.

"...So what are we gonna do?" The orange bear questioned.  
  
"I dunno, but I can't work until Max allows me to." Mina commented.  
  
"But Mina, this is everything we worked for." Ash rebutted. "You make it sound so simple!"

"Hey dude, she's trying to work with this new job the best she can." Sonic hissed.  
Ash's eyes narrowed at Sonic and then were diverted to Mina once more. "You may have a job now with the king Mina, but I work for this band just as much as I work for you, and they still need money. They still need to find some gigs"  
"I know..." Mina breathed.  
"Well then," He muttered "You also know then that we'll have to move on with or without you to make ends meet."  
With those words Mina's world tumbled down. "You'd ditch me? You won't wait for me to come back?" She whined.

"I told you Mina, I have to. I've got to work for my other employers." Ash grumbled.  
  
the young woman felt eyes starting to sting.

"No! No! No! NO! Not AGAIN, this... this can't be happening!" She wailed heartbroken, while running into her room with in tears.  
Ash after hearing the slam of the door quickly rose to his feet and walked out of the hut. "C'mon guys, we've got practice to do."  
"Yo! Way past uncool!" Sonic gushed. "You're girl's crying and you want to go PRACTICE!"  
  
"Don't lecture **me** on how to handle women." Ash snarled. "It's not like the concern you have saved YOUR relationship with the princess, that everyone saw fall apart onstage!"

Sonic's hands rolled up into fists. "She just didn't see it my way! I have to fight the war so that everyone can be safe, including her! I didn't listen to her because I care about everyone I'm fighting for, and that means her too! I mean yeah, I do care about how she feels, but I got people to save."

"And I've got people I need to work for too!" Ash fumed before marching out of sight followed by the various band members he ordered to follow. Sonic looked down. As much as he hated to admit it, he had a slight idea of where Ash was coming from, but quickly tried to brush off that sympathy as he and Mina's mother slowly headed to her room after the last member shut the door behind himself. This leaving the elder mongoose could only wonder, and stay in a position of contemplaitons.  
"Look what you've done Max." She thought. "What on Mobius are you up to, to take things so far?"

As she aided her daughter, deep in thought, her curiousity was shared.  
  
"Well, well, well. Looks like he finally figured out something's wrong with this planet." One of the guards said to another. The two guards were standing there for hours, intently listening to the conversations before the king asked them to open up the doors. These guards learned everything. However something wasn't exactly right. As they motioned towards the nearest window, their figures changed. Instead of looking like the flat tailed beavers, they rapidly attained another form, the form of two, brown, raccoons, both with a very masculine body.  
  
"Well we better go. Shino is pretending to be a servant in the palace in case we need backup. We have to get out of here as soon as possible."  
As the two raccoons made an attempt to walk through the halls, the doors forcefully opened, crushing them both.  
  
"What is wrong with you men? Can't you open the doors when told?  
As the two quickly squirmed out of the doorway, to run for safety, Max noted their changed appearance.  
  
"These aren't our guards, these are imposters!" Max shouted.  
A black skunk that was amongst Max's accompanied group shot a dart that lied within the contraption on his hand out at one of the fleeing raccoons. Almost instantly it shot one of them in the back, causing him to nearly tremble to the ground. As he wailed in pain, the ears of a young panda twitched.  
  
"The boys!" She exclaimed before running towards the hallway. There she could see them being attacked by a number of individuals she saw king Max hire for his investigation team. From her backpack she managed to pull out two bamboo sticks that had sharp blades at the end of each side of the sticks.  
  
"Let them go!" The panda demanded while delivering a severe blow to the skunk's head.  
  
"Geoffrey dear!" A black, spiked hair cat shouted before sinking her claws into the panda's skin.  
"How, dare you do that!" She spat.  
As the panda cried with pain, the cat was momentarily shoved off of the girl by the raccoons that grabbed the panda before jumping out the window. The cat after recovering from being pushed into the wall would leap to at the chance slammed her fist into the back of that girl's head, causing her to lack focus as she tried jumping out of the window. Resulting her to lose conciseness as she fell.  
As the others steadily jumped on multiple platforms that lead to the ground, they both saw their Panda companion fall headfirst with nothing to break her fall.  
"SHINO!" One of them screamed with tears falling down his face.  
  
"No, we CAN'T go after her. The boss said we couldn't do that to anyone left behind that could hinder this mission. We gotta go back homw." The other raccoon said. "Besides, your wounds are pretty serious, and we can't afford to lose you too!"  
  
"I don't care about this stupid mission, the gang, or about me. I never even got to tell Shino that I--"

"Save it!" The other raccoon butted in before grabbing his companion and forcing him to a safer location.

"Shino..." The wounded raccoon thought with a gut wrenching saddness before everything went black.


End file.
